This page is a record of Board or AGM decisions about the running and operation of the Association.

1 General

Sending a letter, or other communication, stating our position on an issue not previously adopted by the Board may be done in matters of urgency, but only with the approval of the Chairman or Vice-chairman.

We promote DBA – The Barge Association as the primary representative body of our class of boat.

We refer to ourselves and trade as DBA and/or DBA - The Barge Association (AGM 2000).

We will seek to participate in forums, user groups, etc. to promote our views and protect the interests of our members.

We will seek discounts from suppliers of boat orientated products and services for our members, and in particular:
a. We invite members of RBOA and NABO to join the DBA bottled gas scheme;
b. We will send regular press releases to relevant publications, organisations and waterway authorities;
c. We will request that any member, who has a marine orientated business, to display our publicity material (fliers, etc.), particularly at boat shows; and
d. Only discounters who advertise in Blue Flag will be sent a copy (Jan 08).

We will not accept block membership from other organisations but will invite any individual members of those organisations to join.

Directors, and those standing for election, will be asked to declare before election any conflicting or prejudicial interests.

We will consider all effective methods to attract new members.

The Editor of Blue Flag will refer any article of concern to the Chairman who will decide whether to print or not. The writer of the article can appeal to the Board against the decision and it will be considered at the next Board meeting.

All UK/EU members will pay subscriptions of £35 individual or £45 family (Oct 09).

We will enter into partnership with Les Amis du Canal de Nivernais (Nov 08).

New advertisers will have to pay in advance (Nov 08).

Classified advertisements would be accepted for payment on the website, but be marked as Trade (Jan 09).

2 Governance

Every decision taken that has a continuing effect on policy will be published on the website in the Current Policies section (Jan 08).

The administrators of the email lists may apply a ‘3 strikes and out’ policy to those who disregard the list rules. The Board may decide on immediate suspension from the lists for gross misconduct (Jan 08).

The minutes will be circulated to the Board by email for approval with a time limit of two weeks and then will be published on the website. Any policy and procedures would be extracted and published in the next issue of Blue Flag on a ‘notice board’ (Apr 08).[Was: Minutes of Board meetings will not be published until ratified at the next Board meeting (Jan 08).] Minutes should include a rationale for decisions where appropriate (Apr 09).

When a proposal has got past the discussion stage and can be formulated clearly , one director sends it to all directors, with the subject title ‘DBA decision – [subject]’. The directors reply ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ’abstain’. The Chairman, who can only vote in the event of a tie, confirms the decision, keeps the emails and brings the decisions made to the next Board meeting where they are recorded in the minutes (Apr 08).

All email lists except Association Matters will be available to all to read, but posting will be limited to members only (July 08). As the newsgroup cannot be made ‘members only’, the newsgroup will be suspended once the forum is members only (Apr 08). As the netiquette is published posts are no longer checked. The archives will be available to members only (Jan 09).

Notice and call for Directors – will be published earlier, 2 Blue Flags before AGM date (Apr 08).

Directors’ email addresses will be published in BF (with their personal phone numbers if they wish). BF and the public area of the website will show contact information for the BF editor, bookshop, membership secretary and advertising. Details of all volunteers (including Directors) will be in the members only area of the website. All phone numbers will be in international format. (Nov 08)

There will be a set of written procedures for the administration and financial aspects of every rally. (Nov 08)

Mileage rates for Board Members will be 30ppm in the UK and overseas (Jan 09).

Where Board members wish to propose projects, the following procedure should be followed: (Oct 09)
a) Define the requirement;
b) Seek Board agreement
c) Scrutinise the volunteers list to seek assistance;
d) Advertise the project on the AM List and seek volunteers;
e) If insufficient volunteers email all members; and
f) Keep the Editor of Blue Flag informed of progress.

3 Development, Maintenance & Reinstatement of Waterways

We will support and promote the retention of inland navigations and the maintenance of such navigations to standards which will allow their ready use by barges. Within this remit comes dredging to original profiles (at the very least, and with reference to the dimensions of adjacent locks), sustaining of water levels, removal of obstructions (sunken vessels, rubbish, overhanging trees, etc.), repairs (lock gates, bridges, breaches, etc.) and signposting.

We will continually stress to all navigation authorities the necessity to publish (notice boards, website, etc.) all stoppages, as well in advance as possible.

We will support and promote the restoration of navigations which have become unusable and the creation of new barge navigations.

We support any groups which promulgate restoration or expansion of waterways, irrespective of whether they are narrow beam or wide beam.

We support all improvements to waterway facilities, in particular for boats 'on the move' but not to the exclusion of permanent and residential moorings.

We seek to be consulted and look at, on a case-by-case basis, all waterside developments and raise objections if it is felt that the development is detrimental to the waterway and/or our members.

We take note of and inform our members of any local authority anomalies (bye-laws) if we believe that they impinge on our members’ interests.

4 Regulations

We support engine exhaust emission levels for new craft but that the legislation is not retrospective and does not apply to 'heritage' vessels.

We oppose 24m as being a cut-off point regarding licences and skippers qualifications for pleasure craft.

We will promote the use of navigation charges for barges which reflect a fair division of waterway costs, but we will oppose the application of charges based on the size of craft where size is not a significant element of costs.

We support a Europe wide system of boat registration.

We oppose, in principle, any new regulations for barges to be made retrospective.

We support all and any Rights of Navigation.

We believe that all boats should be appropriately insured.

We promote as much freedom of access to information from regulatory authorities to our members as is possible.

We support the organisational revision of the Boat Safety Scheme but regret that the Standards are still in an unsatisfactory state.

We support the creation of a single navigation authority to manage the publicly-owned navigations. Until this is achieved, we support a reciprocal licensing agreement between EA and BW or an all-round license.

We support Heritage status for members’ barges where applicable.

5 Running Costs

We oppose any increase in taxation on fuels.

We oppose the imposition of unreasonable or excessive costs or requirements on the operators or owners of barges e.g. above inflation, supplements to existing, etc.

We oppose any increases in VAT/TVA/etc. and will help members minimise their liability.

6 Accreditation & Training:

We promote all, relevant, boating qualifications for our members and we encourage them to obtain these qualifications.

7. 5 year Marketing Objectives

Ensure members' requirements are continuously identified and met.

Be recognised as the European authority on all barge matters including waterways navigation, moorings, barge buying, construction, improvement, handling and safety standards.

Represent the interests of barge owners in areas such as mooring rights, navigation permits and charges, the provision and maintenance of barge navigations, and navigation/safety regulations.

Keep the existing waterways open and support the restoration of existing waterways.

Deliver year on year growth of 5% in the proportion of members who are barge owners.

Establish and maintain contact with other relevant societies and clubs and trade associations.